Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Commissioner Dunn Opposes Federal Land Grab in Senate Energy Bill: “A Slap in the Face to New Mexico’s School Children”

Commissioner Dunn Opposes Federal Land Grab in Senate Energy Bill: “A Slap in the Face to New Mexico’s School Children”

Santa Fe, NM (April 27, 2016) – New
Mexico State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn today issued the following
statement in opposition to an aspect of
the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 (S. 2012), which passed the
United States Senate on April 20, 2016, on the basis that the
legislation will take away land from State Land Trust beneficiaries –
including public school children – for new wilderness
area designations in New Mexico.

Commissioner Dunn states:

“Following
a review and analysis of the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, I
am strongly opposed to a portion of this legislation as sponsored by
U.S. Senator Lisa
Murkowski (R-AK) and supported by U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM).

The
Senate energy bill seeks to designate 21,420 acres within the Rio
Grande del Norte National Monument northwest of Taos, New Mexico, for
the purpose of creating the
Cerro del Yuta Wilderness and
Rio San Antonio Wilderness areas. President Obama’s 2013 designation of
Rio Grande del Norte has already impacted 38,788 acres of State Trust
Lands, which were originally set aside by
Congress in the Enabling Act of 1910 for the benefit of public schools,
universities, hospitals and other important institutions in New Mexico.

The
Senate’s new wilderness area designation encompasses 1,280 acres of
State Trust Lands. With low oil prices already impacting revenues from
State Trust Lands,
the designation of these new wilderness areas will only add insult to
injury and further reduce revenues in support of New Mexico’s school
children. In total, the federal government has set aside 162,000 acres
of State Trust Lands in recent years for national
monuments, wilderness study areas and conservation agreements for
threatened species in New Mexico. The fact that the Senate is
authorizing this new land grab without providing any acreage in exchange
to the State Land Trust is tantamount to a slap in the
face to New Mexico’s school children.

Congress
can fix this problem by transferring or exchanging federal acreage from
the Bureau of Land Management to the New Mexico State Land Office for
the benefit
of our State Land Trust. I originally proposed this idea to New
Mexico’s congressional delegation during a visit to Washington in
February. Such a deal would ensure that the State Land Trust remains
whole and intact as we seek to maintain revenues for public
school children and other important beneficiaries.”

The
State Land Office is responsible for administering 9 million acres of
surface and 13 million acres of subsurface estate for the beneficiaries
of the State Land Trust, which includes
schools, universities, hospitals and other important public
institutions.

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Way to go Commissioner Dunn! First the NM legislators speak up on the mouse/water issue, and now a state-wide elected official steps forward on wilderness lockup legislation.

Please take the time to thank Aubrey Dunn by either phone, 505.827-5761, or email, adunn@slo.state.nm.us